​As I worked out today I thoughts about my arms, my chest, and my legs. I thought about how I needed to use them if I wanted to keep them strong. I also pondered  the fact that I need to do more than just use them, I needed to exercise them. The difference between those two is the purpose for which they are done. I use my muscles to live, I exercise them to remain alive. The same is true of our spiritual muscularity. We use it to live, but exercise it to stay alive. Love, Hope, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, and Self Control are what we call the “fruit of the Spirit.” (Gal 5:22) These are not fruit that we produce, but fruit that the Holy Spirit produces through us as we exercise our spirituality and godliness.  We are to Love to even our enemies (Matt 5:44), be patient in our Hope (Romans 5:5), practice Peace with each other (Mark  9:50), be Patient with each other (Eph 4:2),  be Kind to each other  (Eph 4:32), do Good to all men  (Gal 6:10), be Faithful unto death (Rev 2:10), and be strong in Self Control (Pro 25:28). But here us is the key; as our muscles let us live by staying strong, and give us life by growing stronger, so too do our Spiritual muscles behave the same way. Consider 2 Pet 1:4-8, 4  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;  and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;  and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love.  For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let’s exercise our faith.

​Pass it on…
“The Word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.” Acts:19:20
 
How should the Word of God spread?
Matthew 28:18-20 “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  and teaching  them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.””
What does it mean to “teach?”
Greek  - “matheteuo”
It means “teach,” no secret meaning. The same goes for teacher and teaching.
Is this teaching one on one?
Phillip and the Ethiopian.  Acts 8 – Can someone give us a brief recap of this story?
Is this teaching accomplished during a sermon?
Peter at Pentecost. Acts 2 – Can someone give a brief recap of this story?
Is this teaching found in a bible class?
 
Can we agree that there are many ways of teaching and that we are all instructed to teach?
So the answer to the question “How should the Word of God spread?” is that Christians spread the word through teaching, just like we are commanded in Matthew 28:18-20?
 
Who should spread the word?
Romans 12:4-7 “For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach;
1 Corinthians 12:27-31 “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret? Now eagerly desire the greater gifts. And yet I will show you the most excellent way.
Ephesians 4:11-13 “So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.”
We are even warned against teaching.
James 3:1 “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”
So now the answer is that Jesus says in Matthew that we are all to be teachers, but Paul tells us that God didn’t create us all to be teachers, and James warns us against being teachers.
Is this a conflict in the lessons of Scripture?
The words that tell us to teach and not to teach use the same Greek language. The point is that we need to understand the balance between ability, responsibility, and spiritual maturity.
Spiritual maturity.
Hebrews  5:11-14 “We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand.  In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!  Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness.  But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.”
We don’t all mature at the same pace or to the same level. However there is a level of maturity that we should all strive for.
Responsibility.
James 3:1 “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”
Ability.
See the verses above that not everyone is gifted to teach.
Once we understand that there is a balance, we have something we can measure ourselves against.
Some say, “I can’t teach because I don‘t have the gift of teaching” Does this let us off the hook?
Not at all.
 
 
Now for the lesson!
 
 
We’re all expected to teach, not necessarily in a formal setting like a bible class or group study.
Some of us can we teach in a formal setting?
Some of us can lead a small study (note – most of the men here are on the rotation for leading this class.
Some of us can teach one on one.
All of us can tell our story.
1 Peter 3:15 “But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”
We all need to be able to do this, and it’s all that we need to be able to do. Our story at it’s core is the Gospel of Christ.
Our responsibility is to tell our story whenever we can.
If we tell one, they may tell another.
2 Timothy 2:2 “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others.”
Paul’s journey to Ephesus is a great example of this application to sharing the Gospel.
Acts 19:8-10, 20 “Paul entered the synagogue and spoke boldly there for three months, arguing persuasively about the kingdom of God. But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. This went on for two years, so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord…. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.
 

There is an old saying, “The Devil Made Me Do it.” However, James refutes this excuse when he writes in James 1:13-15 When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed.  Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
What are evil desires?
Mark7:21 -  For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
It appears that these evil desires come from within us. How can that be?
Where do evil desires come from?
Looking at the of man and his relationship with God we see that Adam and Eve were comfortable, not understanding god and evil, but just experiencing the joy of being with God. But that changed. In Gen 2:15-17 we read, “The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.””
And when Adam and Eve ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and their eyes were opened and they understood good and evil. This is when mankind was exposed to good and evil; and our hearts were forever changed to be able to store up good and evil in our hearts.
We need to b careful here because we are not imputing the sins of Adam and Eve’s sins against all mankind believing that we are born guilty of sin. What we are saying that because of Adam and Eves sin, mankind has the knowledge of good and evil and has the propensity for sin and can store up good and evil in our hearts.
Matt 12:35 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.
Matt 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
Mark 7:21-23 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”
Dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed?
What are we dragged away from?
Isaiah  59:2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.
Our evil desires drag us away from our relationship with God.
What does it mean that we are enticed?
The Greek word used here is Deleazo, and it means “to bait; to catch with a bait.”
Who is doing the dragging?
Is Satan dragging us or are our desires dragging us?
We are dragged away from God with our as a direct rejection of God. The ability to do so comes from Satan the temper introducing mankind to sin. It’s therefore correct to say we are dragged away by our evil desires which are a result of the scheming of Satan
After desire has conceived it gives it gives birth to sin.
When does this happen, when we are tempted or when we give in to temptation?
Sin begins when our evil desires bait s into committing sin.
What is full grown?
Sin when it is full grown gives birth to death.
Sin is full grown when it has you in its death grip. When you are living in sin as a lifestyle. When we commit a sin we are not separated from God, if you are a baptized Christian. When you introduce sin as a regular part of our living we  become adulterers, thieves, slanderers and the like.
What is death?
Eph 2:1-3  As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins,  in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.  All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.
All sin can be described in three categories as pointed out in 1 Joh 2:16 which says, “For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.”
 
Matt 4:1-11 – The temptation of Jesus
If we look at Jesus temptation, we see that He was tested with lust of the flesh – turn these rocks into bread; lust if the eyes – Satan promised to give Him all the kingdoms of the world; and the pride of life – throw yourself down, the angels will protect you.
It is from one or more of these categories is where our evil desires begin.
Let’s look at an example
·         Let’s use the example of a thief.
·         Evil desires
o   What is the evil desire of a thief?
§  Lust of the eyes – I want “it.”
o   What entices them?
§  Their desire.
o   What are they dragged away from?
§  Their relationship with God.
o   At what point are evil desires conceived?
§  When they are acted on.
o   When are they dead?
§  When they embrace stealing a part of their lifestyle.
Philosophical Questions
We all have desires, or evil desires within us. Does that make us guilty or does it just make us capable of sin?
·         It just makes us capable of sin. We receive guilt when we actually commit the sin
What is the tipping point between having desire and being enticed?
·         The tipping point is when we begin obsess over our desire.
Does it make sense to say that we all have evil desires within us and are we all capable of being enticed and drug away to our spiritual death?
·         Yes, we all have good and evil in our hearts and we are engaged in a war for our souls.
Isn’t this part of the reason that Paul writes in 1 Cor 10:8 - We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
Absolutely, we are under a constant battle to be Christ like and Godly. We need to stay on track towards our heavenly goal. We begin by controlling our thoughts and focusing them on the things above.

I had a friend pose a question this week. He asked if miracles still happen. While that is a topic for another day, the question of God’s intercession comes to mind. Does God respond to our prayers and are the effective? Thinking of examples, what happens when we ask God to heal a terminally ill person, remove consequences of a bad decision, or simply ask for strength to carry on. What does God do?

We shouldn’t presume that we know what God will do, but in a very general sense, we know the range of His response. Some say that God will answer with “yes,” “no,” or “later.” I prefer to see it a little differently. I believe that God responds to our prayers, period. I’ll clarify that in my conclusion.

Jesus prayed. He told the disciples, and the Apostles to pray, and through the that command comes upon us. He told them specific things to pray for and he introduced them to the model prayer that most call, “The Lord’s Prayer.”

Paul prayed. He asked others to pray for him. The Apostles prayed. God wouldn’t show us by command and example that we should pray if it is vain repetition and accomplishes nothing.

In Matthew 21:22 (also recorded in Mark 11:24), Jesus tells His disciples, “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer. In Philippians 4:6, Paul addresses  the church in Philippi telling them, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” We are commanded to pray. If God inspired the words commanding us to pray, and it didn’t have an impact, God would be a liar. Hebrews 6:18 confirms that God is not capable of lying. It’s not within His nature.

Peter confirms that God answers prayers. In 1 Peter 3:12 he writes,  “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

And Scripture is full of examples of answered prayer. In Luke, chapter 1, Zechariah is childless and prays for a child. In verse 13, it says, “But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John.” In Acts 10:30-33, God hears Cornelius’s prayer and arranges for him to meet Peter.

And James confirms that prayers to God are effective. In chapter 5:14-16 he writes, “Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven. Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

I believe that the problem is that we are blind to many of the activities of God. We want to see the demonstrable results of God acting on our prayers. He  may answer prayers as “yes,”, “no,” or “later,” bt I believe that His response to our prayers is either revealed or unrevealed. We either see the results or we do t, but all of our prayers are answered.  I find in my life that the revealed results of God answering my prayers is clearly visible in hindsight. I may not see where God is moving me, but I can clearly see where I have been.

 

Genesis records the story of the creation of the world, animals, plants, and people. It records the fact that God did all this work n 6 days. Here is where things get interesting. Some people claim that this is speaking of 6 24-hour days, as we know them. This seems logical when you consider that 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which reads, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” Now just considering this text, two things stand out. The first is that the term “all Scripture” includes the first chapter of Genesis. Secondly, the days being other than literal 24 hour days would mean that we don’t understand what the time period was, and that doesn't sound “profitable for every good work.” Also, having it be other than a 24 hour day would mean that God is deceptive. Hebrews 6:18 clears this up when it says that God does not lie, in fact it says that is impossible for God to lie. It goes against His character.

Opponents of the 24 hour day use 2 Peter 3:8 to show that the word “day” in Genesis may not mean a literal 24 hour day It reads, “But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” The argument against this states that this verse is speaking of God being timeless. Additionally if this means that a day is not a day in Genesis, then a day must not be a day in the rest of Scripture.

My conclusion is that a the “days” in Genesis must be referring to a literal 24 hour day. However I also don’t see this as a salvation issue. In other words, however you interpret this, it has no impact on your eternal place in heaven or hell..

Baptism
I hear a lot of people explain that they were baptized as a symbol of their faith. They describe it as an “outward sign of an inward change.” Baptism is much more than symbolic. It is the place where God's grace and our Faith meet. It is the place where we are forgiven of our sins and given the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38-40 says, “Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
 It is the place where we die to ourselves, are buried with Christ and arise born again, into a new life clothed with Christ. Romans 6:3-8 tells us, “Or don't you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.”
Baptism is not a work. It’s not a symbol. It's not an activity. It is a life changing event, an event that marks our forgiveness, our adoption  into God’s family, our receipt of the indwelling Holy Spirit, and our new birth into a life of Christ.
Two important things to understand about baptism are; when should we be baptized, and how shall we be baptized.
Baptism is for the forgiveness of sins. So it stands to reason that only those that are guilty of sin need to  be baptized. Sin is the willful disobedience to God. This occurs when we do wrong and we know better. Many churches baptize babies, stating that they are born in sin because of the sins committed by Adam. Romans 5:12 tells us, “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.” Adams sin introduced sin into the world, but if you read the last three words of that verse it says, “for everyone sins.” Babies, are born innocent and do not need to be baptized because they have not committed sins. Jesus said in Matthew 18:3. “Then he said, “I tell you the truth, unless you turn from your sins and become like little children, you will never get into the Kingdom of Heaven.” The children were not necessarily baptized but they were innocent. That’s what baptism is for, is to remove our guilt and restore our innocence. Now there will come a time, for most, that they will lose their innocence and have a need to be baptized.
The final question is “how should we be baptized?” The word “baptized” in Acts 22:16 is translated from the Greek word “baptize” which means to submerse or immerse, much like a sunken ship. As mentioned above, Romans 6:3 tells us that everyone that is baptized into Christ is buried with Christ. It describes our coming up out of the waters of baptism as something like Jesus resurrection. It makes sense that Paul intended to buried to mean buried. Can you imagine burying someone by sprinkling a little dirt on their heads or dipping them into dirt? Along with this is the fact that all of the examples of baptism given in Scripture are immersion baptism.
So baptism is for the guilty, it is done by immersion, and it is the point at which we are cleansed, forgiven, indwelled, adopted, and born again.
​

What is prayer? We are told that it is our path of communication to God and that He longs for our prayers. He wants us to come to Him with all of our desires and concerns, but who should pray, what does a prayer contain, and how does prayer fit into the life of a Christian?

Who should pray? Jesus prayed. The Apostles prayed.  Paul prayed. The Elders at the churches established by Paul prayed. The fact is that, even though some teach otherwise, all Christians need to learn to pray. Pray is truly our communication conduit to God.

What should a prayer contain? Some people believe that there are things that you shouldn’t pray for, things that you must pray for and stuff in between. The truth is, Jesus gave us an example when He taught the Disciples to pray. It's recorded in Matthew 6:9-15 “This, then, is how you should pray: “‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’

Many people call this “The Lord’s Prayer.” And they routinely recite it, verbatim. Jesus meant it as an example, a template for our prayers. A prayer should contain praise to God, our concerns and requests, and petitions for forgiveness of our sins. In reality, every prayer doesn’t need to specifically include all of these things.

Jesus said we should pray for our enemies (Matt 5:44). He said in Matt 26:41 that we should pray that we don’t fall in to temptation. Paul prayed for the other Christians and asked them to pray for him (Col 1:3). We should pray for the things that are important to God, each other, and ourselves.

How does prayer fit into the life of a Christian? 1 Thes 5:17 tells us to pray without ceasing. This is enough to show us that prayer should be always on our mind. We should remember that God is forever by our side and we can and should talk to Him often and about everything.

Sometimes it seems that there is so much to do, so much to get your mind around and remember. The to-do list gets simply out of control. Now the obvious advice is “just say no.” But it’s never that easy. The things on our list may be important, necessary, or kingdom work. Certainly when we are worried about everyday things, we can look to Scripture for an answer. Matthew 26:25-34 tells us  “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?  Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’  For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

But what of the other items on our list, that seem important and necessary,   aren’t we tempted to worry about them? God has answers for that to. God will never give you more than you are able to handle and you’re not the first to experience this overload. 1 Cor 10:13 tells us, “ No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

And if we are really honest, most of the rest of our  list is not as critical as we might imagine. Ease your mind with kingdom thinking.  Phil 4:6-8 reads, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Peace be with you.

In Mark 3, Jesus is teaching a large crowd and his physical family arrives. Picking up in verse 31 we read, “Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him.  A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.” “Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers!  Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.”

We are a family oriented society, as we should be, but as Christians we have a bond that is stronger than our blood, that is the blood of Christ.  Romans 8:15 tells us that we are adopted into God’s family when we put on Christ in baptism. We become part of God’s household  (Eph 2:19), and co-heirs with Jesus (Romans 8:17), and we will share in His glory. As brethren, we are to have a preferential relationship with each other over even our blood relatives (Gal 6:10).

As brethren we are to love one another. John 13:35 says, “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

I think 1 John 4:7-11 says it best, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.  This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

Amen.

In Genesis 3:8-10 Adam and Eve, after disobeying God’s command not to eat fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It reads, “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden.  But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

Aren’t  we like that sometimes, we want to hide from God. Perhaps we have gotten mad at Him, or sinned against Him, but whatever the reason, trying to hide from Him is the last thing that God wants.  If we have somehow damaged our relationship with God (God will never turn His back on us so any discord is ultimately our fault), He desires reconciliation, not hiding and ignoring the problem.  As the Prophet Jeremiah writes in Chapter 19: 11-12 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.  Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.” God wants the best for us. He desires our love and He wants to love us.

Face God and He will give you life.